1 Executive Summary

This report examines the data from the Sustainable Development Report within the SAGE framework. It will assemble the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into different elements of the Recoupling Dashboard. It is a second part and it will employ interactive plots to delve more into individual performance of countries within the correlations between the SAGE elements. In the last part of the report we will compare the indexes from the SDG with the data from the Recoupling Dashboard. The main findings are:

• The positive correlation of Solidarity and Agency.

• The cleavage between sustainability and development in Environmental Sustainability.

2 Introduction

The second part of this report will continue to use the data from the Sustainable Development Report to develop the ideas of the Recoupling Dashboard.

Instead of looking for general correlations, the analysis will focus on individual countries that may be an outlier or provide a remarkable example of good practice. It will delve further into the research made by the first report as it looks for countries and groups that the previous plots could not have spotted. To do so, it will use interactive graphs to explore better examples that may appear counter-intuitive.

3 Interactive Correlations using the SDR

3.1 Correlation between Agency and Solidarity by Income Groups

The first plot will be the same one in the previous report.

As expected, high income countries would appear predominantly in the first quadrant while low income countries would spread among the third one. However, there are some interesting findings:

• There is a low income country in the first quadrant.

• Lower middle income and Upper middle income countries are clustered in the center and tangent to almost every quadrant. Lower middle income countries in the first quadrant may have something in common (cohering and empowering) that may serve others.

• There are almost no countries in the fourth quadrant (fragmented and disempowered) besides four Lower middle income countries. Also, the lack of countries with abysmal levels of agency and high levels of solidarity may enforce the idea that both indexes are extremely correlated. It supports the idea that coherent, harmonious societies (“The best Angels of our nature” by Steven Pinker) need a certain degree of individual autonomy (trust, functioning, stable institutions, and so forth).

3.2 Correlation between Agency and Solidarity by Income Groups

The first interactive plot delves deeper into the correlation between Solidarity and Agency by income group.

• Tajikistan is one of the main findings. It is the only low income country to appear in the first quadrant as “Cohesive and Empowered” alongside mainly high income and upper middle income countries.

• China shows to have high levels of Agency (“Empowered”) but stays below the mean line of solidarity (“Fragmented”), which would be a counter-intuitive idea. It also may relate to disparities between outward and inward solidarity numbers. Nevertheless, the current financial challenges in the banking system, financial sector, and successive lockdowns can create additional stress on the country’s internal cohesion.

• Nicaragua, Vanuatu, Laos, and Cambodia are the Lower middle income countries that appear to be “disempowered and cohesive” in the fourth quadrant (low agency and high solidarity).

• Panama, Mauritius, and Romania are the High countries in the second quadrant, or “empowered and fragmented” (high Agency and low solidarity).

• Most Upper middle income countries are above the mean line from Agency. However, the proportion falls in terms of solidarity. Therefore, the role of inequality may act as an enforcer of Agency (survival of the fittest) while undermining solidarity.

3.3 Correlation between Agency and Solidarity by Continent

The following interactive plot takes a different approach by looking at the correlation between solidarity and Agency by Continent (besides the fact that some countries were attributed to “OECD”).

• Due to the predominantly presence of OECD countries in the first quadrant, we can observe all countries applying for accession to the group and see how they perform with the average. Of the six candidates (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania), Croatia is the one closer to OECD countries. Bulgaria has lower levels of Agency.

• From the Latin American countries, Uruguay, Costa Rica (which is currently an OECD country), and Argentina seem to be the countries with the high performance in the first quadrant (“empowered and cohering”). Brazil and Peru have lower levels of solidarity, standing closer to Romania. Both countries also have lower levels of solidarity in comparison with the OECD group.

• Oceania has a very heterogeneous position, as every country is very distant from the other (New Zealand and Australia are in the OECD group).

3.4 Correlation between Agency and Solidarity by Regions

The last plot examining Agency and Correlation follows the World Bank definition.

• There is nothing substantial new besides what has been observed in the previous graph. The cleavage between European and African countries is more apparent.

3.5 Correlation between Agency and Environmental Sustainability by Continent

In the next graphs, we will observe the correlation between Agency, Solidarity, and Material Gains with Environment.

• The main finding from the plot is the difference between how well African countries perform in terms of Environment in contrast with the low numbers in Agency. Countries from other regions among the best numbers of Environment (Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Nepal) are also “Disempowered.” None of the countries with high levels of Agency are among the highest performer in Agency.

• Singapore and Australia are the best examples among countries with high levels of Agency and low levels of environmental sustainability (“empowered and unsustainable”).

• The most sustainable countries among the OECD group are Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France perform average in relation to other OECD countries.

3.6 Correlation between Solidarity and Environmental Sustainability by Continent

In the correlation between Solidarity and Sustainability, there are some interesting observations.

• OECD countries tend to be more dispersed in this plot than the one that used Agency as a parameter.

• the Central African Republic continues to be the country with the better performance in sustainability and the lowest number in solidarity (“sustainable and fragmented”).

• Australia is the least sustainable country among all the OECD.

• Most African countries have impressive numbers in sustainability but do considerably worst in solidarity (“Sustainable and Fragmented”). OECD countries do the contrary (“Unsustainable and Coherent”). However, they are more present in other quadrants besides. The cleavage between African countries and OECD is more present in this graph than in comparison with others (even Material Gains).

3.7 Correlation between Environmental Sustainability and Material Gains by Continent

• Central African Republic continues to be the country with the lowest number of Material Gains (“low material well-being”).

• There is a considerable dispersion among all regions.

• Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have the highest material well-being.

4 Comparing the SDR with the Recoupling Dashboard

4.1 Correlation between Solidarity from the SDGs and SAGE by Income Groups

Here we will observe the correlations between the SDGs and the data from the Recoupling dashboard. This report will use the classification according to income groups.

• Morroco, Nigeria, and Benin are the countries at the bottom of the solidarity scale.

4.2 Correlation between Agency from the SDGs and SAGE by Income Groups

The correlation of the Agency value is very high. There is less dispersion in comparison with the plot about Solidarity while having fewer outlines in each cluster of income group.

Tajikistan continues to be the outlier, being the only low income country among lower and upper middle income.

4.3 Correlation between Environmental Sustainability from the SDGs and SAGE by Income Groups

This interactive plot examines the correlation between the Environmental Sustainability indexes from the SAGE dataset and the SDGs. The SAGE dataset used the Environmental Protection Index (EPI), while the SDGs used the 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life Below Water), and 15 (Life on Land).

The SDGs in environment do not necessarily mean that the country is an example to be followed. It solely means that the country obtained progress in certain indicators.

• The discrepancy between both axes can explain that wealthier countries possess a high EPI level while low income countries present a better performance among the SDGs.

• SDG 13 comprises CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, cement products, imports, and exports. Low-income countries have less capacity for importing and consuming, so they may inevitably pollute less. SDG 14 is related to marine life exploitation and ocean health, and SDG 15 relates to deforestation and biodiversity. In both SDGs, low income countries seem to perform relatively better than high income ones.

• Burundi, Central African Republic, and Burkina Faso are the countries with the highest levels of the SDGs, while Luxembourg and Denmark outperform the rest in the EPI.

• The main conclusion from the plots involving sustainability is that rich countries have difficulties moving from their status as unsustainable. Meanwhile, low income countries cannot develop properly without financial and natural resources. The main challenge is for countries to find a properly way to develop without straining their natural resources while richer countries must decouple development from use of natural resources.